


Love

by the_authors_exploits



Series: Memories Divided by Pain [8]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, it's kind of an ending??
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-21
Updated: 2017-01-21
Packaged: 2018-09-18 21:47:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9404423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_authors_exploits/pseuds/the_authors_exploits
Summary: [ləv] noun1. an intense feeling of deep affection2. a person or thing that one loves





	

**Author's Note:**

> I had someone mention that Jason seems to have regressed a lot in this chapter without a reason; I had thought it might be clear that there was a lot of 'behind the scenes' stress going on with Ra's showing up and invading Gotham, so there's the reason :)

Ra’s’ people do come; they invade Gotham, they stalk the shadows, they take over the rooftops, and Damian doesn’t let Jason out of his sight.

“They’re here for you,” he says late one night, when Jason can’t sleep and Tim is handing him some warmed lemonade. “You know that, right?”

Drake frowns at him, and Damian stares blankly back. “We know, Damian.”

“Then you know we have to be careful.”

“We’ll talk later.” Later, once Jason was asleep, once Jason didn’t have to hear; but this involved Jason and Jason deserves to hear it.

“Jason?”

The older boy blinks at him, as if to say _yes, go on_. Damian eyes the steam curling up from the coffee cup in Jason’s hands, watches it fog around Jason’s eyes.

“Do you want to hear this?”

Without hesitation, Jason answers “yes.”

Damian turns a smug smirk on Tim, and the other boy rolls his eyes fondly if a little frustrated. “They’re going to keep closing in.”

Tim flops down to the floor and rests his chin on the coffee table, stretching and cracking his fingers in his lap. “So what do we do?”

Jason sips slowly and Damian bites his nails; Grayson is staying with Gordon tonight, and Father had gone out on patrol earlier. It’s just them, holding the fort down, huddled for safety. “Mother hinted that Grandfather might come himself; we can hold his minions off but Grandfather will be dangerous.”

“So what do we do?” It’s Jason asking this time, setting his half empty cup down on the table; Tim moves to place it on a coaster.

Damian thinks; they can handle it many ways. They can hide, as they’ve been doing, but it’s doubtful that the assassins would give up; they were determined, especially for their leader Ra’s al Ghul. The batclan could go after them, but that would rouse Ra’s attention more and cause him to double his efforts to get ahold of Jason.

“Why does he even want me?”

Damian regards the teen; he looks frustrated, tired, angry. Good; it’s better than the catatonic shock he had before, dealing with the horrors he’d been through. Damian is partially glad he doesn’t remember the Pit; he can’t imagine the time drowning in the life water was very pleasant. “Mother says you were important to bringing Batman down, and that they worked hard to turn you against him.”

Jason can vaguely see that, in his memories of listening to Talia spin stories of Gotham and Bruce, in the gleam in Ra’s’ eye. He nods and rubs his eye, reaching out to grab the cup again; to just do something with his hands, to feel busy, to feel like he’s doing something. “Ok, but we know his plan now, right? Why does he want me back? What could he possibly want with me?”

“Maybe,” Tim speculates, “He just wants to get rid of you?”

Jason shudders, and Damian too; a failure. That’s what Ra’s sees in Jason; Damian doesn’t say anything, and neither does Tim. They let the silence take over and when Jason’s eyes grow heavy Tim takes the half empty mug from his hands and covers him with a blanket.

“We’re not going to let them, right?” Tim asks, watching Jason sleep. “We’re not going to let him go again.”

Damian nods; he’s worked way too hard, put in way too much energy to get his friend back. He’s not going to lose Jason again; he falls asleep on the couch too, and Tim takes the floor, and that’s how Bruce and Grayson find them.

It all comes to a head when Damian and Jason are standing in the library a few nights later, when Tim is in the kitchen with Alfred and Bruce and Grayson are down in the cave working; Damian doesn’t expect Ra’s to come to the manor. He’d been patrolling the streets for them to show, and Damian doesn’t expect his patience to wear out so soon. For him to come to them.

But when the lights cut off Jason’s explanation of motifs in _Harry Potter_ and only seconds later the library windows shatter, Damian knows he was stupid; stupid to have not prepared for this, stupid to have not seen this coming. Many things happen in those few moments; several of Ra’s men and women come through the shattered window. Damian unsheathes his katana, which he’s still held close by, in one hand and grabs Jason’s wrist in the other; he hears Tim and Alfred calling out further in the house, the noise of a scuffle, and then Grayson’s angry yell.

Jason’s breathing has gone heavy, his muscles are tense and shaking, and Damian’s eyes adjust to the new darkness; the moonlight shows seven people, all dressed in dark and wielding a variety of weapons, and Jason makes a choked noise in his throat.

“You are not allowed here,” Damian calls loudly; Jason startles and tries to pull away, but Damian tightens his hold. “You need to leave; now.”

But his authoritative doesn’t affect the intruders; they stand, solemn and emotionless, at the ready for a battle. Then a battle Damian will give them; he hears footsteps storming down the hallway—a certain cadence, a mishmash of Tim and Grayson and Father’s pounding gait—and when one of Ra’s warrior’s glances away Damian makes his move. He pushes Jason back, further into the shadows though it won’t protect him from the well trained warriors can still easily find him, and lashes out at one of the people closest to him.

His katana makes an arch, spraying blood when it slices deep into a woman’s arm; she cries out, stumbles away, and clutches her injury. The others tense, and then spring into action, and Damian is the weapon Grandfather always wanted him to be. Ferocious, determined, murderous; he certainly doesn’t stop when his immediate family enter the room, join the fray, and especially not when one of Ra’s’ men grab Jason.

Jason lashes out; he’s been trained too, by both Batman and Ra’s al Ghul, and Damian only steps in when Jason kicks the enemy away from him. One foot planted in the man’s chest, kicking out with a yell, and Jason stands wide eyed when Damian flips over the man, placing himself between the two. With a flick of his katana the man loses a chunk of his abdomen and Damian dances closer to Jason.

“Enough!”

The chaos freezes, and Damian gently nudges Jason further behind him; the voice comes from the shadows, and the quiet tapping of a measured gait echoes. Grayson and Tim tense further, and Bruce glares; Damian, however, fights the urge to grab Jason and instead moves his feet subtly into a ready stance, holds his sword at the ready.

“Damian,” Ra’s speaks evenly, and Mother smiles over his shoulder, soft and deadly. “I see you’ve been hiding away my pet.”

“You’re not welcome, Grandfather; you need to leave.”

“Hello, Bruce.” Ra’s ignores Damian, turning his attention to the father. “I’m sure you’ll let me take what’s mine.”

“Jason is my son.”

Jason makes a noise, a quiet keening sound, high pitched and panicky; Damian has had enough. He’s had enough of people hurting Jason, a boy who is victim every time someone speaks his name. Damian takes one step back, to draw closer, to offer support. Jason responds and leans some weight forward, against Damian’s back, and Damian is more than happy to bare the weight.

“He is my failed project.” Ra’s eyes Jason with some sort of venomous warmth, tipping his head to the side in welcome. “As such I think I’ll take him back, rework him into something new.”

“Will I be considered a failed project, Grandfather?” Damian questions. “Since my loyalties no longer lie with you, am I a failed project?”

Ra’s says nothing; he frowns, but turns his attention back to Jason with ease. “Come now, pet,” he calls. “It’s time to go back now.”

Damian holds his katana tightly, gripping it dangerously, shoulders hunched as if to attack; behind him, Jason shakes, and that only fuels Damian’s determination.

“He’s my brother,” Damian declares, voice steady despite the smudge of blood on his cheek or the wheezing panicky breaths Jason takes. “And I love him; my dedication and loyalty are to him. Not to you, Grandfather, and I will hunt you to the ends of the earth if you harm him again.”

Grayson claps a hand to his mouth, to hide his shock and the splitting grin; Damian just called one of them his brother. Admitting they’re family, something that Grayson’s been begging for years now to happen.

Ra’s seems to consider what his grandson has said, eyeing Jason with some measure of disdain. “Failures are to be disposed of, Damian, I taught you that.”

“You also taught me that other’s emotions can be a weapon; but I believe Mother taught me something better. That _my_ emotions can be a weapon.” Damian lifts his sword, defensive and offensive all at once; Jason cowers behind him, his second half and hurting brother. “And my emotions are strong, Grandfather; for my family. And that does not include you. Leave, before I make you leave; and if you ever harm my family again, I will destroy you.”

Ra’s assesses him, and then with a resigned smile he eases a step away; with raised hands, he backs away, into the shadows. “I see you too truly are a failure, Damian; maybe one day you will rejoin me.”

As much as Ra’s preaches no ties and emotionless actions, he is not as empty as that; he loves his daughter, and he loves his grandson. And Damian has learned a lot in his short life; he has learned emotions are weapons, can be manipulated to hurt or to heal. So he uses his emotions, of loyalty and trust and love, to use Ra’s’ own emotions of loyalty and love.

“My loyalty lies with Jason, with Grayson, with Drake, with Father.” He looks at his mother, who smiles wide and proud at him. “And to an extent my mother; to you currently, Grandfather, I hold no love. You have hurt Jason, and you want to continue to hurt him; I will not give him up so easily.”

Ra’s tugs at his shirt sleeve, and then turns on his heel. “We are leaving.”

Slowly, the warriors trickle out, trickle away, disappearing into the shadows; Talia is the last to go, still smiling so wide and full of love at her son. With a final nod, one that speaks volumes of promises and kind words, she too disappears into the dark.

Damian knows, as he catches a brief glimpse of Bruce’s disappointed face at all the blood across the floor, that this is not an end; that their fight might never actually be over. That Jason could still face problems and dangers in the future, that Bruce might never fully accept Jason’s ways, that Damian might still struggle with being a ten year old kid instead of a trained assassin.

But the fact remains, as Jason clutches to his shoulders, slumping down with the stress and relief and Damian reaches up to touch his arm in comfort, that they made it this far; together, they can make it one step more.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't expect this series to go where it has, but Im very proud of it; so, thank you for reading, commenting, giving kudos, bookmarking, subscribing... Whatever your part in this journey has been, thank you :) Whether you stuck with it from the first story I published, a few months after, or even years after, thank you. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did; on to the next adventure~


End file.
